Invariably her own harshest critic, Coco Gauff did not hold back as she assessed her third-round defeat to Anastasia Potapova at the Miami Open. In the space of six-and-a-half minutes, Gauff, the American sixth seed, accused herself of being “too passive”, of having “messed up”, of being “lazy” and “not executing”.
It was an unforgiving critique, yet it was also a reminder of the remarkable poise, maturity and intelligence that have underpinned the 19-year-old’s prodigious rise. Though visibly upset by her 6-7 (8-10), 7-5, 6-2 loss, Gauff offered no hint of self-pity. She rightly acknowledged the quality of an opponent who never stopped fighting. She had the humility to recognise that she had relied too heavily on her defensive skills. She offered typically articulate and considered responses to inquiries about whether she had been nervous or struggled to find her rhythm. No criticism was discounted.
Even so, matches like this happen. Gauff is not the first top player to lose from a set and 5-3 up, and neither will she be the last. The wonder is she made it that far in the first place, having fallen behind 5-2 early on and then saved two set points in the first-set tiebreak. Dogged retrieving and counterpunching got her back into the contest after those initial setbacks, qualities never more evident than when, facing a break point as she served for the opener at 6-5, she scrambled from corner to corner with breath-taking athleticism to keep herself in a rally, eventually pouncing on a short ball from Potapova to set up a forehand winner.
Yet there were moments of real boldness, too, such as the two-fisted backhand she smoked for a winner to break Potapova as the 26th-ranked Russian served for the opener at 5-3, and the bounce smash she hammered from deep en route to a break in the eighth game of the second set. The problem, as Gauff recognised, was summoning the steel to take on her shots when it most mattered, most notably after falling behind in the fifth game of the decider.
“I think that’s kind of been where I’ve been messing up in all my matches this year,” said Gauff of her over-reliance on defence. “All the ones I’ve lost I think I lost because of that. I think it should be more used as a tool in a toolbox than as a weapon.
“I think I have to change my mentality in the game about not relying on that too much, because I think sometimes I play a little bit too passive because I know I can get to balls.
“All the players that are doing well now on tour are big hitters. It’s not like I don’t have the tools to hit big, because I definitely do, I think it’s just more making that the first decision.”
Fair enough, but let it also be acknowledged that Gauff is judging herself by the most exacting of standards. Her only previous defeats in a season that began with a title win in Auckland have all come against opposition of the highest calibre. Jelena Ostapenko, the former French Open champion, denied her a place in the Australian Open quarter-finals, since when she has lost only to top-10 rivals: Veronika Kudermetova in Qatar, Iga Swiatek in Dubai and Aryna Sabalenka in Indian Wells. It is hardly a roll call of dishonour and, while her disappointment at her worst defeat of the year by ranking is understandable, it is also true that a player who reached No 4 in the world and made a grand slam final before her 19th birthday can be too hard on herself. Typically, Gauff is acutely aware of the fact.
“Generally, I tend to see the negative sides of things,” said Gauff.
A bigger problem, perhaps, is overanalysing those negatives. Admirable as it is, Gauff’s determination to leave no stone unturned, to entertain every possible explanation for her losses, is not always a recipe for clarity.
“Definitely I feel like a combination of nerves, playing at home,” Gauff ventured. And then, in the next breath: “I wasn’t nervous. I feel like it’s one of those things that maybe the feeling is there, and I’m not recognising it.”
Gauff delivered equally mixed messages in relation to her mental approach. “Really where I got in the match was because of my mentality,” said Gauff, before adding a short while later: “I think my mind just wasn’t all the way in today.”
The point is not to trip up a brilliant young talent with her own words, but rather to highlight the fact that Gauff occasionally finds herself as much at the mercy of an enquiring mind as a misfiring forehand (of which there were plenty down the stretch against Potapova). It is an issue every whip-smart teenager faces at some point, and in time Gauff will learn to assimilate what is useful and dispense with the rest. The key is to keep things simple. Again, she is fully aware of the issue – and relishing the opportunity presented by the forthcoming clay-court swing, where tactical clarity is easier to come by and fortune favours the best athletes, to make further progress.
“I definitely think the game does simplify a little bit [on clay],” said Gauff, who was defeated by Swiatek in last year’s French Open final. “I have a clearer picture of how I want to play on that surface.
“I definitely think physically [gifted players], usually those are the players that are doing well on clay, so I think that’s why it suits me a lot.”
In her quest to fulfil the predictions of grand slam success lavished upon her by the likes of Chris Evert, John McEnroe and Rafael Nadal, such certitude may yet prove an ally as powerful as any in Gauff’s well-stocked arsenal.